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Stories in Games Matter, Right?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the i-think-so dept.

1up has a piece looking at what exactly David Jaffe meant when he said he was 'no longer doing story'. They examine how this ties into the Lester Bangs discussion, and hear from some other designers on where they think story falls within the realm of game design. From the article: "Warren Spector: Games are all about the player experience -- about DOING things, not about watching things or hearing about things. And that means that a narrative game has to put the player experience first and the narrative second. However, left to their own devices, most players aren't very GOOD at crafting compelling experiences -- just as most readers aren't good writers, and most moviegoers aren't great directors. And that's where story comes in."

2 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. It's not that important. by mashuren · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Good gameplay can save a game with a terrible story. But a good story can't save a game with terrible gameplay.

    --
    An object at rest cannot be stopped.
  2. Stories matter to me. by EnsilZah · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are two kinds of games i like to play, Story based and Skill based.
    Story based ones are like a good book or a movie, games like Fallout, Homeworld, The Dig, Half Life 2 to a lesser extent.
    I don't really mind that the gameplay is pretty linear.
    Skill based ones are games like HL2DM or Warcraft 3 on battlenet.
    The fun i get out of those is that i learn how to beat other people.

    Now if you look at a game like Oblivion, which i think was rather boring, you have a huge world with lots of side quests, lots of eyecandy, but when you get down to every element it's rather simple and uninspired.

    I think that game makers shouldn't try too hard to make games seem nonlinear because they eventually will be anyway, only crappier.